Charge transport in poly(3-hexylthiophene):CdSe nanocrystals hybrid thin films investigated with time-of-flight measurements

Abstract

Charge carrier mobilities and transport dispersivity are studied in hybrid films composed of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and CdSe nanocrystals by the time-of-flight method, using a field range of 105–106 V/cm. It is found that charge transport parameters pass through an optimum for 75 wt. % (36 vol. %) of nanocrystals in the polymer matrix, yielding balanced hole and electron mobilities around 10−3 cm2/V s. Changing the nanocrystal shape from spherical to branched increases the intersite coupling disorder in the hybrid whereas changing the surface ligands from stearate/oleylamine to pyridine decreases it. Both these modifications have an impact on the electric field dependence of the measured mobilities.